Page 12 - September 2025 - Truth & Tidings

onfessing sin can accomplish more us begin the journey of restoration in the
than repairs; it can spark revival. fear of God.
CThe 1907 Korean revival began Second, we confess to the human party
when one man confessed to stealing and we’ve wronged (Jas 5:16). For me, this
two other men repented of a longstanding included my wife and my children, since
conflict and forgave each other. On the I had sinned against them all. Best prac-
other hand, some apologies are not apolo- tices include:
gies at all: “I’m sorry if my comments • Confessing urgently, even if you’re in
offended you.” Instead of healing relation- mid-sacrifice (Mat 5:23-24).
ships, non-apologies tend to make things • Confessing accurately – not “I messed
worse. Owning our part in a conflict, then, up,” but “I sinned against you when I
can result in enormous blessing, but doing spoke those angry words” (see Mar 1:5;
it well is both an art and a science. Luk 15:18). As Spurgeon advised, “Do not
The Art of Apology give fair names to foul sins.”
• Taking full responsibility. It’s tempting
It was my fault we were running late. to make excuses (“I was tired”), shift the
By the time I got into the driver’s seat, my blame (“if you hadn’t worked late”), or
wife and children had been waiting with use the passive voice (“things got out of
the van running for five minutes. Instead hand”), but we need to put the “I” back in
of accepting responsibility, I tried to shift confession like David did: “Behold, I have
the blame with a passive-aggressive com- sinned” (2Sa 24:17).
1
ment that others could learn to shut the • Expressing heartfelt sorrow: “I’m
lights off too instead of leaving it all to me! sorry.” It is often appropriate to convey
This made for a long car ride and an even awareness of how your sin has hurt
longer evening. The tension was still there someone. David models this when he tells
when we drove home later that night, and God, “I have sinned greatly … I have done
I knew I was solely to blame. What should very foolishly … I have done wickedly” (2Sa
we do when we are the cause of a conflict? 24:10,17).
We need to say the most difficult words in
the English language – “I’m sorry” – and Third, we forsake or renounce the sin.
we need to say them well. Pharaoh and Saul confessed vertically and
horizontally (Exo 10:16; 1Sa 15:24-25) but
First, we confess the sin to God (1Jn 1:9). had no intention of forsaking their sin.
In sinning against His imagers, we have “Whoever conceals his transgressions
directly sinned against Him (Psa 51:4). will not prosper,” the Lord warns, “but he
Realizing we have mistreated someone
who belongs to the Lord awakens us to 1 Bible quotations in this article are from the
the seriousness of our offense and helps ESV. All emphases are mine.

268 TRUTH kTidings September 2025